Summary
The price of premium headphones keeps creeping up while entry-level headphones continue to sound better.
The newSony ULT Wearheadphones split that difference to offer big sound and solid noise cancellation at a reasonable price.
Price and Availability
The ULT Wear headphones will retail for $199.99 when theyre released this spring.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
They’ll be available in black, off-white, and forest gray.
They replace the WH-XB910 headphones in the lineup.
The ULT Wear features active noise-canceling.
With exceptional bass and improved noise-canceling, the new ULT WEAR headphones let listeners bringtheir favorite festival or club feel with them everywhere they go.
They get 30 hours of battery life with ANC in use or 50 hours with it turned off.
They can get 5 hours of playback with a 10-minute charge.
Multipoint is supported for connecting to multiple devices at once.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
And these can do 360 Reality Audio head tracking.
There are dual microphones onboard for conducting calls.
Ear detection is supported to stop playback when theyre removed from your head.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
Plus, the headphones come with a hardshell case.
The features arent over-abundant, but theyre all useful and well implemented.
The size is a tad on the bulky side, but I found the fit to be comfortable.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
The headband in particular had a better feeling than it appeared at first look.
The forest gray color is hard to pin down.
Sometimes it looks like a muted green and other times like a straight gray color, hence the name.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
Pressing the button cycles between two different levels of bass boom, with a third press turning it off.
Similarly, while the ANC performance wasn’t the strongest Ive ever heard, I had very few complaints.
It significantly dampened vacuums, cafe chatter, and a bustling household.
Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek
I appreciated that the Wear headphones have a dedicated physical button to toggle ANC and transparency.
It was easy to feel for and press.
I had no problems talking to people with transparency activated while the well-padded headphones were on my head.
In terms of microphone performance, the dual-noise-canceling mics and windscreens made my voice sound good.
These could easily be used for work calls or while traveling.
The earpads were comfortable, and the headband was padded enough not to be noticeable.
Importantly, the headphones were lightweight enough to not cause any fatigue.
The app will be updated ahead of the headphones' release.
Should You Buy the Sony ULT Wear Headphones?
I wasnt initially excited by theSony ULT Wearheadphones before I got them in my hands and on my ears.
Ive become accustomed to using the most top-end Sony, Bose, and Apple headphones.
